Is It Ethical to Create Genetically Edited Humans?

On Nov. 26, a scientist in China announced that he had created the world’s first genetically edited babies, twin girls who were born in November, by altering a gene in the embryos to make them resistant to H.I.V.

Ever since scientists created the powerful gene editing technique Crispr, they have braced apprehensively for the day when it would be used to create a genetically altered human being. Many nations banned such work, fearing it could be misused to alter everything from eye color to I.Q.

Now, the moment they feared may have come. On Monday, a scientist in China announced that he had created the world’s first genetically edited babies, twin girls who were born this month.

The researcher, He Jiankui, said that he had altered a gene in the embryos, before having them implanted in the mother’s womb, with the goal of making the babies resistant to infection with H.I.V. He has not published the research in any journal and did not share any evidence or data that definitively proved he had done it.

But his previous work is known to many experts in the field, who said — many with alarm — that it was entirely possible he had.

“It’s scary,” said Dr. Alexander Marson, a gene editing expert at the University of California in San Francisco.

While the United States and many other countries have made it illegal to deliberately alter the genes of human embryos, it is not against the law to do so in China, but the practice is opposed by many researchers there. A group of 122 Chinese scientists issued a statement calling Dr. He’s actions “crazy” and his claims “a huge blow to the global reputation and development of Chinese science.”

If human embryos can be routinely edited, many scientists, ethicists and policymakers fear a slippery slope to a future in which babies are genetically engineered for traits — like athletic or intellectual prowess — that have nothing to do with preventing devastating medical conditions.

While those possibilities might seem far in the future, a different concern is urgent and immediate: safety. The methods used for gene editing can inadvertently alter other genes in unpredictable ways. Dr. He said that did not happen in this case, but it is a worry that looms over the field.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

— After reading this article, has your initial reaction to this news changed at all? What do you think of Dr. He’s experiment?

— Some argue that gene editing is a welcome advance that could eliminate disease. Others see it as a slippery slope that might lead to so-called designer babies who are engineered to be stronger, smarter and more attractive than everyone else. Where do you stand in this debate? Is it ethical to create genetically edited humans? Why or why not?

— What legal limits, if any, should be placed on the practice of human gene editing? Should it be banned in any form? Should it be allowed for some reasons and not others? Or should doctors be permitted to freely research and experiment with the genetic engineering of human beings? Why do you think the way you do?

— In the 1970s, when the first baby was conceived via in vitro fertilization, millions of people went into a moral panic about doctors playing God and interfering with a natural process. Today, I.V.F. has become a broadly accepted and commonplace practice that has helped millions of people have babies. In your opinion, is the paranoia surrounding genetic editing overblown, as the fear around I.V.F. once was? Or is the alarm about this latest advance legitimate? Can you think of any other instances where panic about some technological advancement was either overdone or turned out to be well-founded? How does it compare to genetic editing?

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